Winemaker Notes
70% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
A 15ha estate in Martillac, owned by Philippe Lacoste, this is from a blend of 78% Merlot, 12% Petit Verdot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, with an average vine age of 25 years. This has a really attractive grip that pulses right through the palate. The soils are gravelly but there is a lot of clay and limestone too and you can tell the vines resisted the heat well through the vibrancy of the wine. Aged in 33% new oak, there is a whoosh of vanilla sweetness on the attack, but the wine carries it well and is balanced. Drinking Window 2023 - 2038
-
James Suckling
Perfumed and very pretty with currant and black-tea character. Medium body, round and easy tannins and a taunt finish. A blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot. Better in 2022.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Ferran is medium garnet-purple colored and reveals beautiful red and black cherries, warm plums and mulberries scents with an earthy undercurrent and a waft of charcuterie. Medium-bodied, it has a wonderfully plush palate with bags of earth-laced fruit and a long minerally finish.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Recognized for its superior reds as well as whites, Pessac-Léognan on the Left Bank claims classified growths for both—making it quite unique in comparison to its neighboring Médoc properties.
Pessac’s Chateau Haut-Brion, the only first growth located outside of the Médoc, is said to have been the first to conceptualize fine red wine in Bordeaux back in the late 1600s. The estate, along with its high-esteemed neighbors, La Mission Haut-Brion, Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pique-Caillou and Chateau Pape-Clément are today all but enveloped by the city of Bordeaux. The rest of the vineyards of Pessac-Léognan are in clearings of heavily forested area or abutting dense suburbs.
Arid sand and gravel on top of clay and limestone make the area unique and conducive to growing Sémillon and Sauvignon blanc as well as the grapes in the usual Left Bank red recipe: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and miniscule percentages of Petit Verdot and Malbec.
The best reds will show great force and finesse with inky blue and black fruit, mushroom, forest, tobacco, iodine and a smooth and intriguing texture.
Its best whites show complexity, longevity and no lack of exotic twists on citrus, tropical and stone fruit with pronounced floral and spice characteristics.